…9 pump stations to be completed this year
…Ministry to focus on mobile pump systems instead of fixed pump stations
Agriculture Minister Zulfikar Mustapha on Tuesday revealed that the Ministry has blacklisted some 30 contractors from being awarded future contracts under his Ministry, as day two of the consideration of the Budget 2026 estimates continued before the Committee of Supply in the National Assembly at Arthur Chung Conference Centre, Liliendaal.
Though he did not explicitly name all 30 of the blacklisted companies, Mustapha noted that the list includes contractor Tepui Group Inc, which is associated with Mikhail Rodrigues, also known as the “Guyanese Critic”. Tepui Group Inc was awarded the $865 million Belle Vue Pump Station contract.
“Not only Tepui Group, but also what we have done in the last quarter of 2025: we have written to the National Tender Administration, and we listed approximately 30 contractors that we said that we don’t want to do business with anymore. Those are delinquent contractors from the Ministry of Agriculture,” the Minister stated.
He added, “We will not want to do any business with them, and that has been sent to the National Procurement Board, and I hope that anytime those persons tender for a job at the Ministry of Agriculture, we would object to it.”
Mustapha made the revelations as he responded to several questions from APNU Member of Parliament Ganesh Mahipaul about the Ministry’s budget allocation and the state of pump stations being constructed across the country.
Addressing the issue of further contracts with Tepui Group, Mustapha said the Ministry has already taken formal steps to prevent further engagement with several delinquent contractors.
However, even as Tepui gets blacklisted from future projects, Mustapha explained that the company still remains liable for the works being conducted at the Belle Vue Pump Station, notwithstanding the works being completed by GAICO Construction. After several missed deadlines and slow progress by Tepui Group, the project was taken over by GAICO in 2025. However, GAICO has taken over the project as a subcontractor under Tepui.
“Yes, we hold him [Mikhail Rodrigues] accountable all the time. Although we help to facilitate the subcontracting, and we are also speaking with the contractor now, he is responsible because he is the man always… the bonds are renewed, and we have a bond there so that we can recoup any cost that he doesn’t abide by,” Mustapha explained.
According to Mustapha, work at the Belle Vue Pump Station currently stands at 29 per cent.
Nine pump stations
According to Mustapha, nine pump stations are on schedule to be completed this year.
Providing an update on other major pump station works, Mustapha said the Meten-Meer-Zorg Pump Station is 83 per cent completed and is expected to be finished within two months, despite earlier difficulties.
Meanwhile, the Pouderoyen sluice pump station stands at 89 per cent completion. The Pump Station at A-Line is 25 per cent completed, with a revised completion date of August 15, 2026.
The Jimbo Grove Pump Station is 78 per cent completed, and the Black Bush Polder Pump Station is 87 per cent completed.
He also disclosed that the Letter Kenny Pump Station contract was terminated after issues with the previous contractor, Triple A, a company from Berbice. The new contractor is Quality Deliverer.
“It was re-advertised and re-tendered, and they will continue work there,” he said.
Mustapha further listed completed pump stations at Greenwich Park, Barnwell, Adventure on the Corentyne, Cosier and Andrews on the Essequibo Coast, Trafalgar in Region Four, Montrose, Canal Number One, Liliendaal, Ogle, and Anna Regina.
He also explained that the Ministry was now making a shift towards focusing on investments in mobile pump stations instead of fixed pump stations given the myriads of issues facing the construction and completion of several pump stations across the country.
“With the issues that we are experiencing with these fixed pump stations, because we have approximately nine pump stations that will be completed this year, and a number of these pump stations we encountered difficulties in,” Mustapha said.
The Minister added that the Ministry has now taken a deliberate decision to avoid future construction of fixed pump stations.
“We have taken a deliberate decision to avoid building future fixed pump stations and go to these mobile and hydrophore pumps across the country, and you will have the same effect in terms of cubic feet per second,” the Minister said.
He pointed to challenges at the Jimbo area, where construction required the relocation of graves.
“So, what we have decided now, this year, is that we will be procuring 40 hydrophore pumps, mobile pumps, that we will be placing in vulnerable areas to avoid these pump stations being constructed and taking a long time,” he explained.
According to him, once Budget 2026 is approved, advertisements will be published for the supply of the pumps.
“As soon as this budget is approved, we’ll put out an advertisement to supply these pumps, and as long as they come, we will install these pumps in the various areas,” he said.
Responding to questions about the more than $16 billion budget for pump stations and related works, the Minister said the figure includes retention payments, completed projects, and ongoing multi-year contracts.
“We have a number of retentions; we have a number of drainage projects that have been completed,” he explained.
He listed projects including rehabilitation of drainage structures in Mabaruma and Santa Cruz in Region One, empoldering at Bethany Creek, pump stations at Charity, Andrews and Anna Regina, revetment works at Riverstown and Hamilton Court, the main canal structure on the Essequibo Coast, all-weather roads at Dartmouth and Cosier, farm-to-market access roads at Sparta, and several other mechanical excavation projects.
“There are 189 of those projects. I have to disaggregate it because it’s between ongoing projects, multi-year projects and retention. But $10.746 billion is going to retention and multi-year projects,” Mustapha said.
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